a blog supplementing the Images of America book from Arcadia Publishing

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Downtown 1958

Friday, May 29, 2015

...How is Buster?

Not sure where this scene is near Menasha (looking up at High Cliff, perhaps?) but the frame around it is a nice touch and innovative for the time. For all we know, it's a stock photo and the manufacturer just put any town's name on the postcard for locales all over the country. Whatever the case, our young correspondent, Clarence, still took the time to communicate with Bill, who I've found out from further postcards, is his uncle. In the weeks to come, I will feature some other Menasha related cards addressed to the same family in Mishicot. And Clarence gets a little more verbose with his writing, to boot.

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About David Galassie

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About the book

Menasha was carved from the northeastern Wisconsin wilderness in the late 1840s. At the confluence of the Fox River and Lake Winnebago, the town’s early entrepreneurs and industrialists sought the promise of waterpower to fuel their mills and kick-start the engine of commerce. Taming the Fox with dams, canals, and a lock, Menasha initially made its mark with flour mills and lumber-based industry. At one time, the city was home to the largest manufacturer of wood-turned products in the world. In the late 19th century, however, the tides of change once again washed upon the city and industrial focus shifted to the paper industry. What made Menasha great were dependable waterpower, plentiful rail connections to centers of commerce in Milwaukee and Chicago, and a prolific labor force that coincided with an influx of European immigrants.